Friday, September 30, 2011

From This to That - An Earring Makeover

I had some orders to fill and found these very old earrings sitting in a tray of unsold earrings. I wasn’t sure how long they had been around until I started to fool around with them today. Since I am pretty good at signing original things I was able to figure out when they were originally make – 1997. It had my name and date on the back. The fact is they held up pretty good for just sitting around ”carded” up for a show.

Everything then was a little slicker and not so mixed media and, obviously, they didn’t sell since they are definitely a mix of metals and incredibly plain. It just was kind of a plainer time for those things here in a rural area. In the cities – not so much. And look at the length of those ear wires! The first thing I did was took them off the earring body. They are definitely getting redone to a shorter length.

I decided to update the look a bit and see what would happen if I put them up for sale. Added a huge solid copper rivet - some curvature – holes for handmade beads. I shorted those earrings wires by about a quarter inch and added some hammering.

So far, so good. I've still a new finish to add with a lot more antiquing. Those beads (yet to be made), and back on go the earring wires after a good polishing.

I’ve two more pair to play with and I’ll update you after the last step to these.

I guess it goes to say - Anything can be recycled and maybe I better dig around some more.

I've been lampworking since 1994-95 when I couldn't find the right beads to go with a jewelry piece I was making. Creating jewelry has been a passion since college and I've been doing this for over thirty years.

From my doorway here in Michigan I can see deer, turkey, an occasional bear, a variety of other wildlife, and forest. This includes two golden retrievers, an adopted feral cat named Maui, and a very nice husband.